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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

This elegant design not only looks beautiful, but is a cinch to make, too! In fact, here are a few tips to ensure your own cherry blossom cake looks as gorgeous as this.

First, always make sure your icing is niiiice and smooth.

It helps if you lick your fingers first, so they slide smoothly over the icing.

Next, mold or pipe your branches to gracefully scale the tiers of your cake in a natural, realistic fashion.

I know it's hard to believe but, yes, that's really just icing.

Remember, the flowers are the most important part!

[Crickets chirping]

It's usually best to leave off a wedding topper for this style, but if you do choose to have one, make sure it's simple, understated, and elegant.

Note the baker's restraint. Not a single balloon animal!

And finally, when all else fails, remember:

You can always jam a stick in it and charge $200.

(Yes, this was someone's actual wedding cake.)

(And they paid for it.)

(With money.)

Leanne W., Danielle L., Moxie, Holly J., and Robert V. did you know you can make a forty dollar cake look like a 500 dollar cake with just some cookies and sprinkles? Just imagine what you could charge if you jammed a stick in it!

One comment I have about wedding toppers - I ask every bride if they will have a topper and most say "Oh No" and then I deliver the cake to the venue and sometimes, just sometimes, there sits this god-awful topper that doesn't match the cake design at all with the instructions "Please put this on the cake".

I'm not sure what is worse on the green cake (3rd one down)-the fact that the brown branches are running (gross) or the big copyright over the picture (please don't try to pass this work of art off as your own).

I appreciate this post, Jen. No, seriously for once. :) I have a cherry blossom wedding cake due next year, and these tips are very helpful for me. I'll be coming back to this page when the time coems for me to decorate.

Most of these "different from the picture" wrecks seem to stem from cake decorators trying to do things in butter cream and royal icing that are clearly intended for fondant. I can't tell for sure, because my monitor is bad, but it looks like it's pretty much all fondant, even the branches are cut-out fondant shapes.

About that "cookies and sprinkles" link -- I watched that video very carefully, and not ONCE did they mention sprinkles. The stuff they scattered over the cake were "beautiful embellishments." The lady said so herself. ;-D

I just want to point out that some people actually like the rough iced look that is on the first cake. I had a bride specifically request the rough iced look. So even though most people prefer a smooth finish, some do not.

Wreck #4 -- I'm more repulsed that someone would have authorized any payment for that disaster than the disaster itself. I would have preferred to announce to my wedding guests that the cake had been dropped en route than serve that mess.

and Tigerwolf? I'm pretty sure Jen knows how to spell a 4-letter word (I'm certain of it, acutally...!) ....but that using multiple I's indicates a prolongation of the pronunciation of the word.

WV: dinge -- Some of these cakes might be okay, if the cherry blossoms weren't such dinge.

Anywhoo, now that I've got that out of my system...regarding the cake with the..um..."interesting" topper...I believe a family member made the topper and insisted it go on the cake? But now I want to know...did the baker submit this one?

On the one hand, my heart is aching for those poor brides, but they chose to pay for them! Heck, if I went to pick up my wedding cake and it looked like any of those, I would rather go buy a plain white sheet cake from the local bakery.

"Were they proud of this cake? Did they know it was a wreck when they delivered it? It just boggles the mind."

Exactly what I wondered! And WHO would pay for such a thing? I'd cry and pitch a huge bridezilla fit if these showed up at my wedding!!

Disregarding the drips, I actually like the 2nd cake, the green one. It has a nice art-deco feel to it, even if it wasn't intended. Also (correct me if i'm wrong), it appears to be fondant free, and yet is perfectly smooth.

Re: The incongruous topper. I think what likely happens in these situations is that the couple says "no toppers" and then some well-meaning relative gives you one at your shower or hands it to you at your rehearsal dinner as a gift. Sometimes it's easier to just shut up and put the thing on the cake, rather than argue about it or worry about offending your new in-law.

Of course, if it happened to me, such a topper would have a horrible "accident" on the way to the venue and it couldn't possibly be replaced on time. "Imagine how tragic it was that my dog chewed it up, the cat peed on it, and then the neighbor's truck ran it over three times, but I guess we'll have to make do without it."

I am so pissed off with you. You are a terrible, terrible cake. How could you even excuse yourself for existing ESPECIALLY on a day like a wedding. You should have never been made!

I hate you so much I could spit! What's you're problem! Stop looking at me! Don't you have any manners! Stand up straight! Tuck yourself in the chrissakes. And, by the love of all that is holy, take out those piercings! This is a f'in spiritual ceremony of f'in love and f'in commitment! I hate you I hate you I hate you!

It has been a very long time since I have baked cakes of any kind, but if challenged, I could make one that would be 100% better than the last one - you know, the one with the fake branch stuck in it. (rolls eyes)

I can't imagine paying anyone for these disasters. A bride, her mother, and mother-in-law would have to have a marvelous sense of humor to keep any one of these cakes. How sad!

I would add my voice to those decrying the last cake in the post as the Wreckiest of all! On a slight tangent, does anyone know how this trend started? Was anyone else reminded by what I choose to call the "real" cake of the _beautiful_ film "Random Harvest," where cherry blossoms are symbolically important to the romance?

First off: Jen, that last comment from "Brendan" about the cake topper with WV "disupste" - that was me and not "Brendan" (my fiance). I hadn't noticed he was still signed in.

Secondly: this is why we're getting a tiramisu instead of a wedding cake. Considering their reputation for tasting like styrofoam and the prices charged for them, we'd rather eat a really good cake-like dessert than risk the horror that could come with an actual cake.

Thirdly:

HAHAHAHAHA!

WV: "florist"

As in, it takes a bad baker to create most of these disasters, but that last one...that takes a supremely talentless FLORIST!

If someone presented me with the last cake on my wedding day I'd bawl my eyes out, seriously. I wish some of these bakers would quit ruining peoples special occasions and go get a different job! I can't make nice cakes, so I just force my kids to eat them on their birthdays, I don't go out and try and make a business out of it!!

ps Saw your book in my university's bookstore for the first time. It's freaking awesome!!

It occurs to me that two of these wrecks were probably related to the FLORIST...I wonder if the flower-less cake was supposed to be finished with live flowers by the florist and wasn't. And was it the baker that put that horrible stick on the last one, or was it the florist?

My wedding cake had real flowers on it and they were added by the florist at the reception site.

Anyone else notice how the "branches" on the green cake have started to bleed?

Honey, it ain't a bleedin', it's a weepin' - cherry tree that is!

For Tigerwolf @ 9:37, PLEASE let everyone know that you were only kidding in your comment and not truly trying to correct Jen. Surely you can't be that naive? Right?

And for Angela @ 12:59, as Siouxzr @ 2:08 pointed out, WV stands for "word verification". It is the "word"/character- sequence you are required to type in in order for your comment to be accepted as originating from a real person and not some automated process. I hope that clears it up for you.

-WM, the great disco newt

WV: bicari. I could use a bicari cocktail after looking at these wrecks!

About the cake with the crazy topper, there were a couple of long threads discussing it on Cake Central. The mother of the groom had made it, and so the couple couldn't be talked out of using it. The baker displayed it on the cake table, not on the cake itself, but then the mother of the groom found it and jammed it on top of the cake.

The worst part is that the second wreck actually looks pretty good... except for the branches. If they would've stopped at the green icing and just stuck a plastic couple at the top everything would've been nice and dandy.

The crazy topper cake had been discussed at length among decorators on Cake Central, like Judi said. The decorator didn't want to use it, everyong else told her that it was the bride's choice so she pretty much had to, then when she posted a picture of it we all reversed our decision and said "Uh, no...Destroy it if at all possible." Unfortunately, if the bride wants to stick something Godawful on top of her cake it's up to her. We decorators usually just take a picture of the cake before the topper is put on, then try to block the incident out of our memories.

I was having a bad day until I found your book at B&N. The comments and photos had me laughing until tears were running down my face... alone... in the middle of the book store. Absolutely needed it and loved it! I'm getting everyone I know your book for Christmas! Or at the very least, everyone I like.

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What's a Wreck?

What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

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